Mediators resume talks for release of Sukma collector

Raipur, April 30 (IANS) Mediators resumed talks here Monday for a consensus on the release of abducted Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon, as Chhatisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh discussed with top officials the new "unreported" demands set by the Maoists, sources said.

Maoists interlocutors and Chhattisgarh government-appointed mediators started crucial round of discussion at state guest house Monday afternoon just after a cabinet sub-committee of Chhattisgarh government headed by Singh concluded its meet regarding some "unreported" fresh demands by Maoists.

Maoists who took the 32-year-old 2006 batch IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer Menon hostage at gun point April 21 after killing his two guards, had earlier put two demands-release of their 17 jailed colleagues and a total halt to 'Operation Green Hunt'.

But some unconfirmed reports say that rebels have put some fresh demands through their interlocutors, Hyderabad-based professor G. Hargopal and Delhi-based former IAS officer B.D. Sharma, who had spent Saturday night with Maoists at their hideouts in Sukma district, over 500 km south from capital Raipur.

"There are some serious technical and legal issues that the state government has to sort out to meet Maoists demands to ensure Menon's safe release, hopefully the mediators from both sides would be able to find a common ground in a day and two," official sources told IANS.